Forget the Monster Mash…here’s some real monster music.
The members of the Finnish heavy metal band, Lordi, are known as “The Finnish Monsters” and “The Monsters of Finland,” because of the elaborate monster-like costumes they wear during live shows and in music videos.
The band’s monster masks are made of foam latex. The mask for lead singer, Mr. Lordi, was glued together piece by piece and requires 2-3 hour to fit. The other masks are solid helmets, taking about 20 minutes to put on. The band members do each others’ makeup.
But you don’t think about all that when you’re watching their music videos. It’s more like, “Hey, those monsters really know how to rock!”
Here are two of my favorite Lordi music videos, in all their monstrous glory:
This is an interesting music video for the song Carmensita. Musician Devendra Banhart and his girlfriend, actress Natalie Portman, have a great time dancing and singing in their Bollywood-style costumes.
It’s definitely a parody of low-budget Bollywood films, with over the top acting, dancing, tongue-in-cheek subtitles, and brilliant costumes.
Previously we posted about Flight of the Conchords and the zany costumes they come up with for their music videos. But they’re not the only band that dresses up for fun!
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with wizard rock. It’s a genre that promotes literacy and fighting evil by rocking out to Harry Potter-based music. There’s much more to wizard rock that I can really cover in a pithy sentence, but what I’m really here to talk about, of course, is the costuming. Part of what makes it so awesome is that everyone can dress up. The bands dress as characters from the books, the fans dress up as witches and wizards, and even the instruments get costumes!
Music, Harry Potter, and costumes—all in one! It’s too good to be true!
Brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge wear Harry Potter costumes for their band, Harry and the Potters. The two of them created their band, and wizard rock, in 2002.
We’ve been blogging quite a bit about Dr. Horrible, the supervillain musical that’s taken the Internet by storm.
Today, we’ll take a closer look at making a Dr. Horrible costume.
Lab Coat
Dr. Horrible wears a white lab coat. You can find a basic lab coat at any costume shop, but if you want to be picky you’ll need a coat that buttons on the side, not down in front. Look for the “Howie” style coat.
Here are some places that sell this type of lab coat:
EDIT: Word on the street is that these goggles actually are green in color. Apparently, the manufacturer picture is wrong and they are NOT silver as shown.
White Gloves
Dr. Horrible wears a pair of white work gloves. Some people have found that fencing gloves work, too. You can try these stores:
Do you like superheroes and supervillains? Are you a fan of musicals? Then wait no longer.
Head on over to www.drhorrible.com to view Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog!
It’s the story of a low-rent supervillain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.
This musical will be free to watch for one week only. After July 20th, 2008, the video will only be available for purchase on iTunes. A DVD packed full of fun extras will be released sometime in the near future.
For an additional back story of Capt. Hammer, be sure to check out his “Be Like Me!” Capt. Hammer online comic published by Dark Horse Comics.
She calls her herself the Venetian Princess…and she’s made a name for herself by producing creative YouTube videos like Brangelina, Adopt Me Too. The talented and beautiful 23 year-old is a one woman show, writing, acting and singing in the videos that she also edits and produces special effects for.
Oh, and most impressively, she does all the costumes herself as well!
The Venetian Princess has 40 original videos on YouTube, seen by as many as 18 million viewers.
Take a look at one of her homemade videos and you’ll know why she’s gaining such popularity:
You can see a broader scope of this gal’s talent and imagination by visiting her YouTube Channel.
Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, is about to debut his newest creation: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s a musical web series that will appear online in just a few weeks.
Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, the story is about the evil Dr. Horrible and his nemesis, Captain Hammer.
It looks totally funny! Check out the teaser trailer:
This weekend I got the opportunity to go to the Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. It was awesome! I got to see some rocking celtic bands, participate in celtic rituals like waulking, eat haggis for the first time (seriously, yum), and of course I was dazzled by the eye candy! Tartan was draped everywhere, there were hundreds upon hundreds of kilts, not to mention a variety of period costumes and other fun things to wear!
This family sang an a capella rendition of the national anthem for the opening of the Highland Games.
Well, either you love them, or you’ve never heard of them.
The self-proclaimed “fourth best band” from New Zealand, Flight of the Conchords are a musical comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Their music is simply awesome, and they are extremely funny as well. So good, in fact, that last year HBO gave them their own show.
I watch Dancing with the Stars for the stirring Sambas and jumping Jives. But a lot of the time I find myself concentrating more on what the dancers are wearing instead of their sweet dance skills.
I can’t help but wonder where pro dancer Cheryl Burke’s flamboyant metallic dress came from (salvaged parts from a UFO, maybe?) or where Kristi Yamaguchi picked up her sultry Tango costume dress?
So I went searching for the secret behind the costumes on Dancing with the Stars. Here’s what I found out (with the help of some online articles posted by ABC News).
The Decemberists are that kind of band that makes you think of something for a long time. They remind you of a sound you’ve heard, but you won’t put your finger on it. All the while, you conjure images in your mind subconsciously that make you piece together their feel and ambiance without cognitively coercing it. The end result could be different for people, but the process is deeper than you realize and greater than you get with any average band.
Okay, enough of my indie rock love affair blabber…
One thing the Decemberists know how to do is make a video and make it clever. Some of their stuff has a distinctly Wes Anderson feel to it. Everything in the videos is crafted to mimic their feel without being the same every time. Credit goes out to the video directors, but this band has a style they wear on them whether on video or not.
For me, in the end I keep thinking about pirates. They sound like pirate music to me. Hey, not bad.
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